We were lucky to catch up with Abigail Withey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Abigail, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

For me, my business really started to become a success once I realised I couldn’t do it all.
I’m so glad I sought help and advice so early on in my journey, particularly as it felt like a bit of a risk when I didn’t have the income necessarily “flowing” at that point but it was very much “trust the process” and having the confidence to view these costs as investments.
It’s all about finding your people, and particularly those who are your biggest cheerleaders. I feel so grateful to has connected with incredible women who all have strengths which I was in need of to build my brand.
For me there were a few investments I made which were a real game changer:
Branding photography: I took the plunge and had a shoot before I even fully launched my business! I worked with the incredible Victoria Haydn Portraits and I was so delighted with the output – it meant I had a huge bank of imagery ready to go and use across my marketing channels and meant all my branding looked super polished and cohesive right from the start.
Mentor session/Power Up: Although I was only a few months into my business, I already knew there were some things that needed ironing out and working on. I was incredibly busy (which I was so grateful for!) but my finances just weren’t reflecting that. That’s where Anna came in! We worked on my services, made sure I was doing more of what I loved and worked on a pricing structure which accurately reflected my time and expertise. I left the session with a clear plan on what to charge, and also goals of where I wanted to get those prices to. Doing this early on allowed me to save time in the long run and book my ideal clients!
Outsourcing: Following on from my session with Anna, it put into perspective just how valuable my time was. This meant that there were some things that I didn’t feel comfortable doing or that they would’ve taken hours of my time which I could’ve put towards my client work or own marketing…I outsourced help with copywriting for my services from the amazing Helen and Tash at Culpepper & Co, and also my website with Sophie from Align & Bloom.
Also something as simple as hiring an accountant! Numbers never have been my strength, and it’s something that can make me feel quite anxious, so working with an accountant who I trust and can break it all down for me helped me be able to concentrate on the things I enjoy and excel at!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve worked in social media for eight years but the majority of my experience, and where my love of all things content and social media came from, was my five years I spent at Manchester City Football Club.
Being the Global Social Media Manager at one of the world’s biggest brands was intense, but in the best way possible. I led on the social and content strategy for channels which had over 100 million followers – I don’t think I ever had a quiet day!
Looking back, I can’t quite believe some of the things I worked on. Leading on global kit launches for PUMA and Nike, being asked by Meta to feature on a panel about best practice in content creation for social, planning and executing campaigns for historic Club moments and also being there right in the heart of the action filming with players and capturing tentpole moments. The pressure was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, but has set me up for life…nothing will ever be as stressful as live tweeting penalty shoot outs, posting a player announcement with a few minutes notice or knowing you had one chance at filming the trophy lift…so it’s meant I now approach everything in such a calm and relaxed way.
It’s also important to note that City always championed the use of iPhone filming and mobile first content, it was encouraged at every match, and we were the first Premier League club to have ‘presenter-led’ Instagram Stories where we featured and appeared in all of the footage after we saw what a huge impact it had on our engagement with global audiences…and this is why I have carried this into my business. I’ve seen first-hand the power of mobile content for a global brand, and now I’ve made this a core element in my content shoot service.
Working directly with platforms, and constant focus on best practice has helped to shape my manageable, relatable, and no-nonsense approach to social media and I hope my experience helps me cut through some of the noise of all the ‘experts’ and ‘gurus’ that fill our feeds!
My main focus with all of my services at Tailor-Made Social is to save my clients time and hassle when it comes to their social channels (all from a relatable and manageable point of view), whether that’s through a full management ‘Done-For-You’ service, a 1:1 coaching session, account audit, or my most popular offering: Social Media Content Shoots – where I help clients build a bank of video content to use across their channels.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When starting my business a year ago, I started my socials from scratch. Over on my personal Instagram, I had built my following to nearly 8,000 followers, but made the decision to create brand new accounts for Tailor-Made Social Media. I get asked a lot why I didn’t just use the account which already had a decent following, and the main reason being is I knew that the people who followed my personal account weren’t necessarily my ideal client or would engage with my business-related content, which would then have a knock on effect with my reach and account health.
Once I started my account, my focus wasn’t (and has never been!) about how many followers I had (and if I’m being honest, I see it as a bit of a vanity metric at times!) – my focus was always on the content, reaching the right audience, being authentic, and providing value with everything I created or posted.
Sure enough, even with under 300 followers very early on in my business journey, I found myself fully booked! It’s always better to have a smaller engaged following…after all, followers doesn’t necessarily = clients.
Now I have over 1,000 followers (all the right kind of audience!) in under a year, and that’s come from consistency with posting both on feed and stories, showing up as myself and focusing on being visible, and making sure I had really strong content pillars and themes which had the right balance of attracting new people, but also nurturing my current audience!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

One of my favourite sayings is ‘YOU are your USP’ – and once I realised that, everything came together!
Reputation is so important, and so many of my clients come from word of mouth which is the ultimate compliment. I know there are so many brilliant social media managers/specialists out there, but I realised that my experience as the Global Social Media Manager at Manchester City FC was incredibly unique. For me, I think the fact I’ve worked directly with the social platforms, spoken on panels at Meta, and worked on content and strategies for channels with over 100 million followers carries weight, and my clients know they can trust me due to my experience in previous roles.
I also show up authentically online, so my audience and clients get to know me, how I operate, and what I’m like – I also share insights from my previous roles and a little window into my career before starting my business. Not only does this help build a reputation, but it helps to build trust – which is one of my key values.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tailormadesocial.co/
• Instagram: @tailormade.social
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-withey-77329512a/?originalSubdomain=uk

Image Credits

Victoria Haydn Portraits